Author(s):
C. Aubeny, G. Biscontin, J. Huang, V.S. Dantal, R. Sadat, S. Bin-Shafique
Publication Date
October 2014
Abstract
Since its appearance in the 1970s, mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls have become a majority among all types of retaining walls due to their economics and satisfactory performance. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has primarily adopted the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) guidelines for the design of MSE walls. Researchers (1) conducted laboratory tests on backfill materials and the statistical analysis to determine variability of soil properties (such as friction angle and unit weight) for soils meeting the TxDOT specifications, (2) performed Monte Carlo simulation using the determined soil property variation to assess the effect of spatial variability of material properties on the calculated factor of safety on sliding and overturning, (3) carried out numerical analysis using a Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC) program to investigate possible failure modes under conditions of complicated geometries and rapid drawdown, and (4) evaluated the effect of precast panel on the compound failure analysis. Researchers evaluated design parameters for sliding analysis recommended by AASHTO and recommended modified design parameters calculated from FLAC simulations for different geometries and for different soil parameters. Similarly, a parametric study was performed to address issues related to bearing capacity for MSE walls and justify AASHTO recommendation with German code (EBGEO) for MSE walls.
Report Number:
0-6716-1
Keywords:
Bearing Capacity Analysis, FLAC Simulations, Large Scale Triaxial Testing, Minimum Reinforcement Length, Monte Carlo Simulation, MSE Walls, Statistical Analysis, Unconsolidated Triaxial Testing
Link(s):
Document/Product
http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-6716-1.pdf
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